Bag-holder.



No. 862,496. "PATENTED AUG.'6. 1907.'

W. MILBRATH.

BAG HOLDER.

IPLIOATION l'lLI-ID HAB. 12,1906.'

UNITED STATESY PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MILBRATH, OF LAKEFIELD, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SAMUEL R.

DUBETZ, OF LAKEFIELD, MINNESOTA.

BAG-HOLDER.

No. seance.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1907.

Application. filed March 12, 1906. Serial No. 305,510.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MILBRATH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lakefield, in the county of Jackson and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bag-Holders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the. same.

This invention has for its object to provide an improved bag holder adapted to hold a bag or sack in an upright position with its mouth wide open, so that it may be easily filled.

To the above ends, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to these drawings, Figure I is a view in front elevation, showing the improved bag holder, some parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, showing the improved bag holder, and showing a bag held thereby. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 1, some parts being shown by dots ted lines only. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line x4 x4 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a vertical section l taken on the line x5 x5 of Fig. 3.

The numeral 1 indicates an upright, shown in the form of a fiat board which is rigidly secured at its lower end to a supporting base frame 2. The numeral 3 indicates a fiat head or board which is adapted to slide vertically upon the upright l., and is held thereto by keeper brackets 4 secured to the ends of said head and embracing the edge and rear face portions of said upright. This head 3 is yieldingly supported, preferably by a coiled spring 5 which is compressed between said head and a block 6 on said upright. To keep this spring 5 from buckling, the head 3 is provided with a depending stem 7 that is passed through the spring 5 and works loosely through the block 6.

The sack holder proper is made up of a pair of flat spreader plates 8 preferably constructed of sheet metal and provided, at their under edges, with external ribs 8 adapted to hold the sack when engaged therewith. As shown, said plates 8 are also ribbed at their upper edges for the sake of increased strength. The outer ends of the plates 8 are curved throughout an are of approximately ninety degrees; and their inner ends are flat and overlap as shown inY Fig. 4, so that one can slide upon the other, and thereby vary the distance between the curved outer portions thereof. One of the plates 8 is rigidly secured to aspacing block 9 which, in turn, is rigidly secured to the head 3. The other plate 8 is rigidly secured to a sliding block 10 which, in turn, is mounted to slide upon the head 3, being, as shown, held in position by a guide bar 11 secured at its inner end to the block 9 and having its outer end bent laterally and secured to the head 3, the said guide bar I1 is, as shown, counter-sunk into the blocks 9 and 10. Also, as shown and preferred, the sliding block 10 is provided with a looped hand-piece 12, by means of which it may be moved. A rack bar 13 is rigidly se cured to the upper edge of the fixed' block 9 and a gravity actuated lock pawl 14 is pivoted to the sliding block 10. This pawl 14 engages with the teeth of the rack bar I3 to lock the blocks 9 and 10 and holds the two spreader plates 8 drawn apart and engaged with the mouth of the sack, as shown in Fig. 2. By pressing on the short end of the pawl 14, it may be released from the rack bar 13 and the plates 8 may then be moved closer together, so as to release the sack, or to permit the open mouth of the sack to be placed around the lower edges of the two spreader plates 8. To secure the sack when thus applied, the sliding block l0 is drawn away from the block 9 until the plates 8 are tightly engaged with the mouth of the sack. The mouth of the sack will then be held open, so that it may be easily filled with a scoop or by anyother suitable device. As is obvious, the mouth of the sack is held wide open by said device.

The tension of the spring 5 and the adjustment of the parts should be such that when an empty sack is held, as shown in Fig. 2, the bottom or lower end thereof will barely touch the supporting base 2. As the sack is filled, first at the bottom and then farther downward toward its mouth, it will expand or spread slightly, and, hence, will have a tendency to shorten. Under this action, the spring 5 yields and permits the head 3, i

plates 8 and other parts carried thereby to lower, but permits the said plates always to maintain their proper engagement with the mouth of the sack.

The device above described, while very simple and of small cost, has in practice been found extremely efficient for the purposes had in view.

What I claim is:

The combination with an upright, of a head springsupported thereon, a pair of cooperating blocks, one rigidly secured to said head and the other slidably mounted thereon, a guide bar secured at one end to said xed block and at its other end to one end of said head and serving to hold said sliding block in working; position, a ratchet bar on one of said blocks, a coperating lock pawl on the other of said blocks, and a pair of bag-holding prongs secured one to each of said blocks, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM MILBRATH.

Witnesses Trios. GEIsNnss, O. '1Ho1mNN. 

